Perdue vetoes bid to start gas fracking in NC

RALEIGH, NC (AP) -- Gov. Bev Perdue has vetoed a bill that would legalize a form of shale gas exploration called fracking in North Carolina but wouldn't allow permits to drill for at least two years.

Perdue announced her decision Sunday - the last day she had to act before it would have become law.

The measure now returns to the General Assembly, where a veto override this week is uncertain because there may not be enough votes.

The bill would allow horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, called fracking for short. The measure requires the Legislature to vote again to allow permits once environmental standards are in place in 2014.

Environmentalists say the threat to drinking water from the process and potential shale gas supply in central North Carolina isn't worth the risk.

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Estimates are we have just 5 years worth of gas thats easily fracked?
Is that worth the risk?

Now I do believe that there may be more oil and gas just offshore and I'm a firm believer in unfrettered EXPLORATION along our coast. We may find more.
I also wonder where all the wind farms are? Oh wait, they're ugly an we don't
want ugly along our coast.
Ah the NIMBY argument. Its alive and well here in NC.
But here's a thought. The amount of oil we import has fallen in the last 3 years. Why? Well we are using less but more importantly we've increased domestic production - almost all of which is derived from fracking.
Increasing domestic supplies does impact pricing regardless of what technique is used to get the oil/gas out of the ground.
We need to get away from importing as much oil by any means possible.

Good for her! That's one of the few things she's gotten right. Sadly our idiotic State Congress has enough clowns to over-ride the veto. Fracking is a terrible practice and if a fracking venture goes south is an irreversable disaster.

Instead of just being intellectually lazy, how about doing your own research? There is ample evidence of aquifer and groundwater well contamination due to the effects of fracking. I receive a daily open-source, government sponsored newsletter which has articles on contamination and suspected contamination from fracking.

Whatever evidence we could provide, I'm virtually certain it wouldn't suffice since it probably runs counter to your pre-conceived narrative there is no risk.

The evidence is there for those objective enough to see. Here's how to get started...google fracking pros and cons.

Good for her. It is about time someone stood up to this practice. There is too much at risk to simply wave off objections. Once the water table is linked and contaminated, there is no going back. It is always about the money and the heck with everything else. The big corporations get the money and the rest of us get the risk.

Water table contamination is due to sloppy practices at the surface. Fracking takes place thousands of feet below the water table. Done correctly it is completely safe, but as with any industry you have some people who are careless or cut corners. Two years to establish state requirements was more than sufficient. She's an idiot.

... we owe it to society to make sure it's a totally safe practice before we start fracking. Some empirical data seems to link the practice to water contamination. We owe it to ourselves to make sure it's TOTALLY safe. Once the genie's out of the bottle there's no putting it back.

Hey, I agree, jobs are nice but you can't drink money instead of water.